3 RI citizens harmed in Aurora

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Headlines | Sun, July 22 2012, 9:15 AM

In memoriam: A written message that begins “To all the innocent souls ... This is for you”, lies near a display of candles, flags and other tributes on Friday in Aurora, Colorado, across the street from the movie theater where 12 people were shot dead hours earlier. (AP/Ted S. Warren)

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa confirmed on Saturday three people from an Indonesian family were injured in the incident.

Marty said the Indonesian Consulate General in Los Angeles had contacted local police and Indonesians in that area and was informed about an Indonesian family consisting of a mother, a father and a son that were wounded in the incident.

The mother, named Rita Paulina Situmeang, 44, suffered gunshot wounds in her left arm and left foot while her son, Prodeo Et Patria Situmeang, 14, was shot in the left side of his back.

Rita and Prodeo were admitted to the Denver Health Medical Center and the University of Colorado Hospital, respectively. “Both of them are in stable condition,” Marty told a press conference at his office in Jakarta.

The 44-year-old father, Anggiat M. Situmeang, sustained bruising to his left eye after being hit by plaster fragments from the wall of the auditorium.

Marty said the ministry had communicated with the family’s relatives in Jakarta and found out that Anggiat had resided with his family in Los Angeles for 10 years.

“We will keep their relatives updated and pay attention to the victims so they can get the best treatment there,” he said, adding that he had instructed the consulate to assist the victims during their treatment.

On Friday, a gunman wearing a mask, who was later identified as James Holmes, entered the Century 16 Movie Theater in Aurora, Colorado, US, and hurled a gas canister into the auditorium before opening fire on moviegoers. The incident, which occurred 15 minutes after The Dark Knight Rises began, claimed the lives of 12 people and injured 59 others.

The Associated Press reported that among the wounded, 11 were listed in critical condition.

The deceased victims included 23-year-old Micayla Medek, said Anita Busch, the cousin of Medek’s father. The family took the news hard, but knowing her fate after waiting without word brought them some peace, Busch said.

Besides Medek, relatives confirmed that Alex Sullivan and Jessica Ghawi were among those killed; Sullivan on his 27th birthday.

According to local police, 10 people died at the scene while the other two died in hospital.

The suspect, who thought of himself as Batman’s nemesis “The Joker”, is a 24-year-old who had recently dropped out of a PhD program in neuroscience at the University of Colorado.

He opened fire with three weapons: an AR-15 assault rifle, a Remington 870 shotgun and a .40-caliber Glock handgun, according to reuters.com.

Holmes, who was wearing extensive body armor, was soon arrested by police. He had left one gun behind in the theater.

The Paris premiere of The Dark Knight Rises was cancelled following the mass shooting while in New York, police said they would deploy officers at screenings of the film throughout the city “as a precaution against copycats”.

The incident was the worst mass shooting in the US since the 2007 shooting on the Virginia Tech campus, and it immediately brought back memories of the massacre at nearby Columbine High School in 1999, where two students opened fire and killed 12 classmates and a teacher. (cor)